We Take Care of Each Other
by MadnessJones
Summary: G1. Prequel to "You Will Care For Me". In a foundling home during the Cybertronian War, a group of Decepticon sparklings form a gang to protect themselves from the world around them. Meanwhile, an Autobot sparkling named Bumblebee tries to hold onto hope despite the misery around him. No Pairings.
1. Great Expectations

_Author's Notes: Hello, readers! First of all, I'm not dead! Yay! Second, I have been working on this prequel to "You Will Care For Me" to celebrate 10,000 views, but I'm a little late because now it's up to 10,300 views. Sorry I took so long. Anyway, this was going to be a oneshot, but I actually wrote a 5 chapter story for this fic. I'll post the other 4 chapter over the next few days. This story will tell how our 4 sparklings from "You Will Care For Me" met each other and survived the foundling home, and tell about a certain Autobot they met long before they came to the Ark. I hope you like this first chapter and stick around for the other 4. Thank you to everyone who read my first story and made this fic possible :)_

* * *

Chapter 1

Great Expectations

Bumblebee connected Terrabyte to the guest recharge berth in his room and rubbed her helm affectionately before he turned to leave. He had asked her if she wanted a story, but she had declined his offer. He figured she would. She still had trouble trusting others, and Bumblebee of all mechs understood why. He knew what those foundling homes on Cybertron were like, and he knew that Terrabyte was lucky to not be any more messed up than she already was.

It was rewarding sparkling-sitting for Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, Wheeljack, and sometimes even Red Alert. Their sparklings were so much fun. Q-Boom was lively and got excited easily. Terrabyte was quiet and didn't cause Bumblebee any trouble. Phobia was probably his favorite sparkling to watch since she was so selfless and full of questions. She was a true Autobot in the making, and even shared his love of humans and their culture.

He walked around his room quietly to ensure Terrabyte would stay in recharge. He knew she had night terrors when she slept in the twins' room, so he didn't want to make any sudden noises that might trigger such a reaction. He was almost to his desk when he heard a soft rapping on the door.

Bumblebee opened it to see that Honey Venom was there staring at him with a bored expression and holding a data pad. The lioness-former made him nervous; moreso since she got her upgrade. He smiled nonetheless and tried to be friendly.

"Hi Honey Venom," Bumblebee whispered to keep from waking Terrabyte, "Did you need something?"

"I came to give you this," Honey Venom replied in her normal speaking volume, "Jazz has ordered you to report in the morning for special ops training, and this is your schedule."

"Thank you," Bumblebee nodded and tried to close the door, but Honey Venom's foot got in the way, "Um, did you need anything else?"

"Yes, I do. How is Terrabyte?" Honey Venom asked in that prim voice that made the majority of creation want to punch her, "I trust you've managed not to kill her thus far?"

"Yes, Honey Venom, we had a lot of fun today," Bumblebee replied; slightly annoyed.

"Good. I trust you with her far more than Sunstreaker," Honey Venom admitted, though her inflection did not change, "It's a shame you didn't adopt her. Terrabyte could kill you if you stepped out of line. Not so much with Sunstreaker."

With that Honey Venom turned on her heel strut and left. Bumblebee despised that femme! Of course that wasn't news. Even as a sparkling she was irritating. For some reason even when he first met her in Ratchet's medbay he didn't like her. He didn't know why he felt so unforgiving toward a sparkling, but he couldn't help it. Something about her made him want to bathe in the wash racks after every conversation. Becoming an adult only made her worse.

Honey Venom heard Bumblebee close the door, and she smirked. That 'Bot hadn't changed one bit. It was a shame he was a minibot, otherwise they might've been friends…

* * *

 _6 million years ago. Altihex Foundling Home._

Today was the day. Honey Venom was officially 1 vorn old. She was no longer allowed in newspark care. She would go out into the main population of sparklings and meet the other older ones. Part of Honey Venom was excited. No more bars on her recharge slab. No more screaming crying brats waking her up during the night cycle. She would finally be treated with respect.

As she was led out into the main area by one of the caretakers she saw an adult couple going into the newspark area to inspect the newsparks for adoption. She wondered if adoption inspections were the same for older sparklings as they were for newsparks. If so then she had little to worry about. Her fabulous gold armor often attracted more than enough attention.

Pit, if she were an Autobot-spark she would already be out of here. Most of the adopters were passing Autobots. It wasn't fair! Why didn't Decepticons come through wanting newsparks? Maybe they preferred older sparklings. If so, then Honey Venom would be exactly what they were looking for.

"Get in there, you little glitch!" The caretaker shouted as he roughly pushed Honey Venom the rest of the way inside.

The little gold femme stumbled and caught herself with her hands as she hit the ground. She stood up and looked around. Most of the sparklings were comparable to her height. Some were bigger, and most were broader. Many gave her a glaring look that told her they were thinking mean thoughts about her.

"Well well, looks like we have new scrap," an older mechling with green and brown armor sneered, "Hm...red optics. So, you're a 'Con, huh?"

"Yes, I am," Honey Venom said with a proper tower accent.

"Hmph! Judging from that fancy armor, you were once a rich glitch," the mechling scoffed, "Well stay away from me! I'm with the Omega Grounders, and we don't take kindly to 'Cons on our turf!"

"The Omega...Could you repeat that, please?" Honey Venom asked politely.

"Leave her alone Fissure, she's stupid!" Another mechling, this one with red and black armor and orange optics exclaimed rudely, "I feel sorry for you new scrap, so I'll give you a free lesson. The Omega Grounders is the toughest Neutral gang in the foundling home. If you're not in a gang, then you're gonna starve. Lone orphans get their stuff stolen, and they get beat up. A lot. You're a 'Con, so you need to get a 'Con gang to accept you. You're not good enough for the Grounders."

"Um...okay," Honey Venom replied timidly; suddenly feeling in over her helm, "How do I find an acceptable...gang?"

"Basically, you find the leader of a strong 'Con gang, preferably one with a lotta members, and you do whatever it takes to get them to let you in," the red and black mechling replied, "You don't say no, and you don't back down. The next time we meet it'll be as enemies. Consider this a free day. I won't go easy on you tomorrow."

Honey Venom nodded and walked away from the two imposing mechlings. She noticed there weren't any caretakers in the room with them. It was just a large dirty play area with sparklings fighting, talking, and milling around. She didn't see any toys, but then again she didn't expect to. Even at this age she knew they were lucky just to have energon.

Honey Venom looked around to see where she could explore. The door to her left was closed and she could see large shadows through the filmy glass. That must've been where the caretakers hung out. She saw there was no door to the right; just an open pathway to a large room. She went in there to see what she could see.

It was dark inside, but she could see it was rows and rows of small recharge berths. This had to be where the sparklings slept. Each berth had a name taped on with sticky labels. Fortunately for Honey Venom she was born with a processor code that allowed her to read from the moment she was sparked. She never questioned it. Many had told her that her creators must have been rich in order to afford her armor and upgrades.

She walked until she found her own berth. She noticed there was dried transmission fluid on her berth. The previous occupant was likely a berth-wetter. She grimaced, but knew it was this or nothing. She wondered who in their right processor would adopt a known berth wetter. It would take some time for her to realize adoption was not the most likely outcome for these unwanted sparklings.

* * *

The next day was the first time Honey Venom had ever been allowed outside in her life. She had never seen the sky before, or the stars. She had also never seen the corpses that were left out in the road to rust or the rubble from surrounding buildings. As she gazed upon these sights her young processor wondered how the foundling home was still standing.

She refocused herself on the task at hand after a moment of pondering. She needed a gang in order to survive. Gangs meant safety. Gangs meant energon. She had already had her first day's ration taken away that morning by an Autobot gang called the Wrecklings. She wasn't about to let that happen again.

She searched the crowd for red optics. Red optics meant Decepticons, and her gang had to be Decepticons because she was one. Decepticons meant safety and acceptance. Autobots meant no fuel and bad things happening to her.

Finally, she spotted a turquoise colored femmeling with red optics and a cannon on her helm. That sparkling could tell her where the gang leader was!

"Excuse me?" Honey Venom said politely as she approached the femmeling, "My name is Honey Venom, and I was wondering if I could speak to your gang leader?"

What happened next she didn't see coming. The turquoise sparkling punched her hard in the face plate! Honey Venom fell on her aft and looked up at the sparkling in shock.

"Empty your subspace, scrap pile!" The bad femmeling ordered.

"I...I don't have anything in my subspace," Honey Venom admitted.

"Oh, well that's too bad," The femmeling mocked her, "Because now you don't have anything to pay the medic!"

Honey Venom saw the sparkling coming in for another punch, so she grabbed the fist with both hands to keep her away! Cleaning fluid leaked from Honey Venom's optics as she tried to keep the bully away from her. She offlined her optics and felt the struggle of her eager attacker. She didn't want to see the damage the little fragger would do to her, so she just continued to lay there holding the fist in both hands; her nails digging into the protoform of her assailant.

After a few seconds, however, Honey Venom realized the femmeling wasn't pulling anymore. In fact, the sparkling's body was on top of her and not moving at all.

Before she realized what happened, she heard a mechling shout "Holy pit! She killed Keystone!"

"You fragger!" Another kid shouted as Honey Venom shoved the body away and stood up.

Honey Venom looked around bewildered, before she dared to look down at the grey and offline chassis of her attacker. She didn't mean to kill her! It was an accident! This was awful! The sparkling was dead. If the other sparklings didn't tear her apart the caretakers would. She was so slagged!

"Hey, Goldie!" a little silver and purple 'Con shouted at Honey Venom, and she cringed away from what she was sure would be an accusing rant, "Hey! Hey Goldie! Which gang are you in?"

"I, um, don't have a gang," Honey Venom admitted.

"Oh. Can I join you then? We can make our own gang," the little mechling offered, "I would be honored for you to be my leader."

This was not what Honey Venom was expecting. A sparkling wanted to form a gang around her? She could be the boss? He was seeking her protection? It was even better than she had dreamed possible! However, with this thought just as quickly came a striking realization.

"No," Honey Venom replied coldly to the sparkling, "I don't need you. I can look out for myself, and you offer me nothing. Get out of my sight before I poison you too."

The sparkling gasped and then took off running. Honey Venom allowed herself to smile. It wasn't a happy smile. Just a triumphant one. She didn't have to join a gang. She could say no, and she could back down if she felt like it. She was powerful, she realized, and she could do whatever she wanted. This playground was now her territory.

* * *

The next 2 vorns passed with a sort of sickly routine. Honey Venom became used to all the unsightly aspects of living as an orphan in Altihex. For one thing if a caretaker was in the room you didn't do _anything_. You didn't go near them unless your name was called for your energon ration. You didn't pick fights. You didn't even leave whatever spot you found yourself in unless you were stupid. The caretakers all carried around electric straps; a small whip-like device they used to punish unruly sparklings. It seemed like they enjoyed striking the sparklings, and considering the caretakers were all inactive Decepticons, they probably did.

Honey Venom also thought nothing of bombs going off outside. Ever since she could remember they had been there. The idea that they could all be wiped out of existence in an instant was a thought that was always in the back of their processors. It made the sparklings restless, and made the caretakers crueler than they otherwise might have been. It was a never-ending source of stress and fear.

Honey Venom also got used to the idea of being alone. She had never joined a gang because she didn't like taking orders. She also didn't like having to protect those that were weaker than herself. That wasn't the Decepticon way. The problem was that the gangs were the only source of companionship in the foundling home, so because she had no gang it also meant Honey Venom had no friends.

There was only one respite from the drudgery that was Honey Venom's life, and that was books. Oh, how she loved to read! At first it had only been for research. Honey Venom had considered starting a gang, so she scavenged for scrap metal outside and sold it to a passing Autobot soldier for credits. Once she had the credits she snuck out to find a street peddler that would sell her a book on leadership. The data pad she wound up with was called "Megatron's Manifesto". She loved it, and soon she found herself trading energon rations and scrap metal just to get more data pads to read. It was her only escape from the pit she lived in.

On this particular orn she sat quietly in the corner and read her book on the scientists that shaped modern history. The book was old, but she didn't care. The information was still fascinating. She was at the part about Starscream's murder trial when she heard a blast coming from outside. It surprised her for a moment, but then she shrugged and continued to read. Well, she did, until…

"Trigger's been blown up!" One of the sparklings shouted as he ran into the foundling home.

"What're you brats yelling about?" Mangle, one of their caretakers, snapped harshly as he was forced to walk into the main room to see about the commotion.

"Forgive me, sir," The sparkling bowed low in hopes of appeasing Mangle's anger, "It's Trigger. He picked up a piece of scrap, but it turned out to be a land mine. He was killed in the explosion."

"Frag it!" Mangle cursed, "You mean there's nothing left of him?"

"No, sir," The sparkling confirmed.

Mangle growled low, and the sparkling slowly backed away in fear of the electric strap that was in Mangle's clawed hand.

"Frag it!" Mangle shouted again, "We don't even have the frame! That brat sucks up energon for 3 vorns, gets himself blown to the pit, and we don't even have the frame to sell! We're out of credits as it is! _Grr_...Turbo Load! You reported it, now go find any part of that fragging sparkling's body that didn't get slagged!"

Turbo Load, the sparkling, began to tremble as cleaning fluid dripped from his optics.

"But sir, I don't wanna touch dead body parts…" Turbo Load pleaded.

"Did I look like I was asking you, _Turbo Rat_?" Mangle growled, "Against the wall!"

Turbo Load whimpered. This was it. Another beating for disobedience. Honey Venom watched this with a critical optic. This seemed like an appropriate moment to intervene.

"Excuse me, sir?" Honey Venom approached the angry caretaker cautiously, "I would be willing to search for the remains for you."

"Good," Mangle replied gruffly, "Get out there and find something useful while I teach this good for nothing fragger a lesson!"

"Yes sir," Honey Venom replied without missing a beat.

As Honey Venom exited the building she could hear the sounds of Mangle's strap crackling against thin sparkling armor and Turbo Load's cries for mercy. She knew he was beyond saving. She had no intention of sparing a sparkling idiotic enough to disobey their adult masters. No, she wanted the scrap-finding mission so that she could collect whatever was left of Trigger. She would simply tell Mangle that there was nothing of value and keep whatever she found for herself. That was the Decepticon way.

* * *

It was a few days after the Trigger incident. Honey Venom had found a spark chamber on that scrap hunting mission, and she had pocketed the grisly treasure in her subspace and told no one. She had been reading the Manifesto again, and there was one quote from Megatron that stood out to her.

 _If you want to win, then you have to be willing to play a long game_.

Honey Venom realized the truth in those words. She had been thinking about nothing but solitude and survival, and that approach to life was getting her nowhere. A family wasn't going to come through that door and magically adopt her. She learned long ago that older sparklings don't get to be inspected like newsparks. Adults don't want older sparklings. No, she couldn't have love, so instead she would have power. She would play a long game, and she would rule Altihex someday.

These thoughts ran through her processor, but were soon interrupted by an audial-piercing scream! At first she thought it was only a fight, but when it didn't stop she found herself curious enough to see what it was.

She saw that it was Telemetry, the oldest sparkling in the foundling home at 7 vorns old. He was clutching his chassis and screaming as if he had swallowed an electric strap! Honey Venom didn't know him very well, but for some reason she still felt obligated to check on him.

"Telemetry, are you alright?" Honey Venom asked when she approached him.

"Hurts...All the time now...Used to... _AHH_! Come and go...Make it _stop_!" Telemetry moaned in between screams.

"What is causing this?" Honey Venom asked him.

Telemetry didn't answer. He only continued to scream and clutch his chassis where his spark was located.

"Let him go," Hangar, one of the Autobot sparklings, advised, "I've seen this before. Older sparklings get this disease all the time. We don't know what it is, but it's always fatal. Now that he's always in pain they'll stop feeding him. He'll be gone in a couple orns, tops."

"I see," Honey Venom nodded in acceptance.

She turned and walked away from the suffering sparkling. There was nothing she could do, so she turned back to her book and thought up ways she could gain more power. She would need a gang, that much she had to admit to herself. It couldn't be just any gang though. She needed to choose her members carefully. She needed a powerful team that would even make the adults leak transmission fluid in fear.


	2. Two's A Gang

_Author's Notes: This probably should have gone in the first Author's Note, but I just wanted to let you know if you've never read "You Will Care For Me" you can still read this and follow it since it's a prequel, but you'll get more out of it if you've read the first story. Thanks to those who have read this, and I will post the next three chapter over the next couple days. Please review, since I love to hear from you guys :)_

* * *

Chapter 2

Two's A Gang

2 vorns later, and Honey Venom was 5 vorns old at this point. Her reputation was well known in the foundling home now. Everyone called her _the golden death_ because of her poison tipped claws and cold sparkless attitude. She was logical, proper, and a force to be reckoned with.

Every time the doors to the newspark chamber opened to admit another sparkling she would look them over carefully. She was still searching for the first member of her gang. Even after all this time she was still alone, however. No one suited her monumentally high standards, and even if she thought she liked a little 'Con's personality it wouldn't be enough. No, she needed muscle. She would accept nothing less.

On this day the doors opened once again and a caretaker pushed out another sparkling. It used to be that the gangs would send their leaders to look over the new scrap, but over the past 2 vorns they had quickly learned that Honey Venom always inspects the new arrivals first. She never picked one, but she always looked first. No one was willing to challenge her for fear they would be killed.

Honey Venom strode over to where the little sparkling was huddled into himself. He was short, even for a sparkling, and bright yellow. Honey Venom walked up to him and the sparkling looked up at her with large blue optics and a hopeful pout on his white face plate.

"Oh, scrap. They're blue!" Honey Venom exclaimed unhappily, "Let me guess, you're a minibot?"

The sparkling nodded quietly.

"You have a sigma ability?" Honey Venom asked.

The sparkling shook his head _no_.

"Alright then," Honey Venom said with a bitter smile, and then with a scowl said, "Then get out of my sight!"

"Wait!" The sparkling ran to catch up with her long strides, "Where am I supposed to go?"

"To the pit," Honey Venom replied without breaking stride.

"Please, I don't wanna be by myself!" The sparkling pleaded as he struggled to keep up with her fast pace, "It's just until I get a guardian!"

That made Honey Venom stop in her tracks. She slowly turned to look at the little intruder, and the murderous glare she gave the sparkling made him take a cautious step back.

"Don't you get it, you useless worm?" Honey Venom growled, "You're not getting a guardian. In fact, you're never going to see a kind adult in your entire life. This is _the pit_ , Autobot. You're going to rust, then die, and then rust some more after you're dead. Just like the rest of us. You want to survive another orn? Find an Autobot gang and _beg_ _them_ on your knees to join! With your tiny useless body you'll be lucky if they use you for target practice around here. This isn't the newspark sector, kid. No more coddling."

Her words were like ice water in the little mechling's fuel lines. He sniffed, and tried not to cry in front of her. Honey Venom almost felt bad for him, but she knew he needed to hear this now before someone decided to turn him into their personal punching bag. It was for his own good.

The little Autobot ran away crying, and Honey Venom harrumphed at him as he left. She had no time for useless Autobots. She needed to find real gang members for her new team. They had to be perfect!

* * *

Several orns later there was an attack outside the Altihex border. Many warriors of both Autobot and Decepticon origin were killed, and 3 new sparklings were brought in. The caretakers griped about having to feed the new additions, and the orphan gangs prepared themselves to look for new recruits.

Honey Venom kept her distance this time. Dealing with sparklings who knew the love of a parent was different than dealing with orphan newsparks. They were often stubborn and optimistic. They had to be broken before they would come crawling to a gang for protection and acceptance.

She saw even from her vantage point that two of the sparklings were Autobots. They were a car-former and a saucer-former. There was also a Decepticon seeker femme. Well, that one might have potential, but Honey Venom would have to keep a closer optic on her to see for herself.

The car-former was immediately scooped up by the Wrecklings. The saucer-former was recruited a few orns later by an Autobot gang called the Prime Directives. That left the seekerling, and Honey Venom noticed something interesting about this little femme; she had a sigma ability.

It had started out in the playground when the Wrecklings were giving the seekerling a hard time and trying to get her to fly away from the foundling home. She stood her ground, and didn't even seem to get too upset, that was until:

"Why can't you understand nobody wants you here, Quantum Boom?" Hangar, one of the Wrecklings, taunted her.

"I told you not to call me that!" She yelled irately, "My name is Q-Boom! Got that?"

"Whatever you say, _Quantum Boom_!" Another Wreckling teased her.

"That's it!" Q-Boom shouted angrily.

 _Beep. Beep. Beep beep beep beebebebebebebeebeep **BOOM**!_

The sparkling actually _exploded_! Honey Venom did a double take. At first she thought a bomb had hit their area and the seekerling had been killed, but then she saw the little femmeling reassemble herself, and the other five sparklings battered and unconscious. She was a Cybertronian grenade. She was perfect! That was exactly the kind of muscle Honey Venom was looking for!

Honey Venom waited until they were all inside before she made her move. She saw that the little seeker wasn't feeling well. She guessed that exploding like that made the little thing's energon run low. Well, she could fix that easily enough.

"Excuse me, Q-Boom is it?" Honey Venom said with a winning smile.

"What do you want, Princess?" Q-Boom groused as she looked up at the femme from where she was sitting with bleary optics.

"I brought you my ration of energon. We can split it," Honey Venom offered, "I can tell you aren't on top of your game, and finding a generous spark around here is nearly impossible."

"True that," Q-Boom nodded, "Let me guess, the Sons of Megatron?"

"I'm not a member of any of the gangs," Honey Venom informed her, "There isn't yet a gang that caters to femmes with sigma abilities. After all, there are so few of us. It makes me feel a little like a freak sometimes. Do you ever feel that way, Q? May I call you Q?"

"Just don't call me Quantum Boom," Q-Boom said with a one-shouldered shrug, "My full name sounds like a fart joke."

"That's disgusting. Show some class," Honey Venom chided her, "Anyway, since I'm sure you were already smart enough to figure this out, I'm not just here out of soft-sparked kindness. I want to start my own gang, a gang that is specifically for femmes with rare abilities. It would just be the two of us at first, but I'm sure in time our numbers will grow. Would you care to join me?"

"Just you and me?" Q-Boom asked, and Honey Venom nodded, "Well, I had hoped for a larger circle of friends than that. Then again, no one else seems too keen on talkin' to me. You seem a little stuck-up, but I also notice nobody messes with you. You must be doin' somethin' right. I guess I'm in, for now. By the way, what's your sigma ability?"

"I produce a deadly toxin in my nail turrets," Honey Venom replied, "Of course my sigma ability, while effective, is nowhere near as flashy as yours."

"Right again," Q-Boom smirked, "So, what do we call ourselves? You better not just name the gang after yourself! I hate it when people do that!"

"Of course not, that would be terribly vain," Honey Venom assured her, "I'm thinking we call ourselves...The Sigma Sisters. What do you think?"

"So definitely no mechs allowed?" Q-Boom sounded a little disappointed as she asked, "Ah, well. It's your gang. Whatever. Sigma Sisters."

"Thank you," Honey Venom replied disingenuously.

Honey Venom and Q-Boom took turns sipping on the energon cube, and then began to stalk the foundling home together in search of lone sparklings to terrorize. They figured that if they were officially the new power-gang they needed to let everyone know before anyone got any funny ideas. It wasn't exactly a friendship, but they knew it was the beginning of a beneficial partnership.

* * *

The sparkling screamed as Q-Boom pounded his helm against the building just outside the back of the compound. The yellow minibot struggled to grab Q-Boom's wrist, but despite his struggling and his shrieking he couldn't get a firm handle on her and was forced to endure the beating.

After a few minutes Honey Venom heard the commotion and went outside to see what her subordinate was up to. She observed that Q-Boom looked angry, the yellow minibot was damaged but not seriously so, and there was a full energon cube near them.

"Problem, Q?" Honey Venom asked with an amused smirk as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah, Buzzkill here won't give us his ration!" Q-Boom barked as she held up the little sparkling's helm to force him to face Honey Venom.

"My name's not Buzzkill!" The sparkling yelled defiantly despite his precarious situation, "It's Bumblebee!"

"Ah yes, Bumblebee. I remember you," Honey Venom smiled at him, and he glared at her, "Well, if you really want this energon so badly, then go cry to your gang leader and have him or her settle it with me. I enjoy a good dominance exercise."

"I don't have a gang!" Bumblebee shouted angrily, his blue optics filling with fluid despite his efforts to hide how hurt and scared he was, "Leave me alone!"

"Not until you give us the cube, Buzzkill!" Q-Boom demanded harshly; her thin digits digging into Bumblebee's scruff bar.

Bumblebee then kicked Q-Boom in the shin, but it didn't make her let him go. If anything it only made her madder, and she slammed him into the ground and kicked him out of her way while she took his cube and went back inside. Poor Bumblebee sniffed and picked himself up off the ground. He looked around and saw that Honey Venom was still staring down at him.

"I warned you, little sparkling," Honey Venom shook her head in a condescending way, "You'll starve by yourself. Let's hope your circumstances are better by next orn, otherwise we'll be back and ready for your next _protection payment_. Oh, and another bit of advice, don't go to the medic. Syringe is a sadistic old mech that enjoys watching his patients squirm."

"What does sadistic mean?" Bumblebee asked innocently.

"It means he enjoys the pain of others," Honey Venom explained.

"Oh," Bumblebee replied sadly, "Are you... _sadistic_ , Honey Venom?"

"Not really, but I don't take _no_ for an answer," Honey Venom replied as she turned and left; leaving Bumblebee to nurse his wounds.

Honey Venom walked back inside and to the orphan barracks. She saw that Q-Boom was on her berth holding the cube; waiting for Honey Venom before she dared to drink any herself.

"Q, mind telling me what that was all about?" Honey Venom asked as she sat down next to the dark blue and white seeker.

"What d'you mean?" Q-Boom replied defensively, "He was alone, and he's an Autobot sparkling, so I grabbed the cube."

"You didn't just grab the cube, you beat him into scrap metal," Honey Venom pointed out, "I don't mind, of course, but it isn't like you. Normally you just snatch the cube and leave. How much of a fight could a minibot really put up anyway?"

"He said some things," Q-Boom muttered as she hugged the cube tighter to her cockpit, and Honey Venom nodded for her to continue, "That little slagger said that Decepticons all deserved to be thrown into the sun. He said it was our fault we were bein' killed, and that his creators were innocent and Decepticons killed them. He said we Decepticon sparklings deserve the beatin's we get, because our creators are the ones hurtin' everybody else."

"And this bothers you?" Honey Venom asked, "It's called jealousy, Q. The Autobots crave our power, and Bumblebee is jealous of what you can do."

"Look, I get we ain't innocent!" Q-Boom suddenly shouted, "But how _dare_ he suggest that the Autobots are!? My dad was killed by an Autobot anti-aircraft turret! I wouldn't be in this livin' pit if it wasn't for the Autobots! Buzzkill deserved it! I'd do it again! I'm not sorry! I don't care if he tells Mangle on me and I get strapped! _I'm not sorry_!"

"Nor should you be," Honey Venom replied coolly, "However, if you steal from him every orn he'll starve. Remember, he lost his family as well. We all have. You are right about one thing though, we are _not_ innocent. No more unsanctioned attacks, Q. I insist on being consulted before you go extorting cubes from our peers. Also, if you are cornered by Mangle and strapped, don't speak. Any promises you make you will be held to. Trust me, I know. Remain silent, don't even scream, and he'll quit faster. They like it when you scream."

"I'll keep that in mind," Q-Boom said dryly, "So Honey Venom, what were your creators like?"

Honey Venom shrugged.

"You don't remember them?" Q-Boom prodded again.

"No," Honey Venom admitted, "In a way I'm grateful. Unlike you, I can't be insulted by any smears against my parents. Frankly I don't care what they were like or how they died. They could've abandoned me for all I know. It doesn't matter. In here, no one matters. So, what was your sire like?"

"He was a lotta fun," Q-Boom replied as a wistful smile crossed her face plate, "When I turned a vorn old, I think that was 20 solar cycles back, he let me try one of his enerjolts for the first time. I coughed a lot, but I'll tell you, after the first few puffs I'd never felt so energetic in my life! I must've flown around the camp 20 times in one long circle! Yeah, that was a good day…"

"Enerjolts? Isn't that a performance enhancing drug?" Honey Venom asked critically.

"Yeah. Pop smoked 'em all the time," Q-Boom replied; oblivious to Honey Venom's distaste for the subject, "He was a warrior, and he had to be at his best. Besides, he said it helped him keep the voices away. After his trine died, he would hear random voices tellin' him to do bad stuff. The enerjolts made those glitched-out voices go away."

"Q, enerjolts are habit forming," Honey Venom warned her, "Your father was a drug addict."

"So?" Q-Boom asked gruffly, "He was still my Pop. Nothin' changes that."

Q-Boom then crossed her arms and lied back so she could recharge. Honey Venom decided against continuing the conversation and left the seekerling to her thoughts. Honey Venom dissolved the cube in the waste disposal unit and then went to recharge herself. She wasn't tired, but there simply wasn't anything else to do.


	3. What Books Don't Teach You

_Author's Note: Well, as pathetic as this sounds, this chapter broke the record for longest single chapter I've ever posted. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out though. I covered a lot of plot points, and wrote in a lot of emotions (hopefully boredom isn't one of them). While this story is pretty niche since it's mostly for the readers who read "You Will Care For Me", I still tried to give attention to detail, and hopefully this story is turning out well for those who are reading it. Thank you guys so much, please review, and I hope you have a great week :)_

* * *

Chapter 3

What Books Don't Teach You

A few orns after the cube incident, Bumblebee found himself approached by two of the Wrecklings, Hangar and Piston. Hangar was a Praxian sparkling with brown armor, and Piston was a racer with white paint and green 72s painted across his shoulder guards. They were Autobot sparklings, so Bumblebee felt at least a little safer with them. They might take his cube, but at least they wouldn't kill him.

"Can I help you?" Bumblebee asked; trying to sound friendly.

"Yeah runt, we heard you don't have a gang yet," Hangar, the Wreckling's current leader, pointed out, "I'm here to offer you a position with the Wrecklings. We're 38 members strong, and you could make 39."

"Really? You'd let me join you?" Bumblebee asked hopefully.

"Sure kid, you just have to pass one teeny weeny test to prove yourself worthy," Hangar said with a sly smirk, "That is, if you think you're mech enough to handle it."

"I'm mech enough! I'm mech enough!" Bumblebee insisted eagerly, "What do I have to do?"

"Well Bumblebee, we noticed you're quiet," Piston explained, "You're real good at sneaking around. Well, we want you to sneak into the barracks and get something for us."

"What do I have to get?" Bumblebee asked.

"It won't be easy," Hangar warned him.

"What do I have to get you!?" Bumblebee yelled; tired of waiting for details.

"You know that all Decepticon gangs are sworn enemies of the Wrecklings, right?" Hangar asked, and Bumblebee nodded, "Well, the current #1 threat to us is the Sigma Sisters. Specifically, Honey Venom. Last orn she stole Vanguard's creds that he got from dealing in scrap metal. The orn before that, she had the ball bearings to steal a cube from Turbo Load; one of our own members! So, we want to get back at that good for nothing thief. That's where you come in."

"I have to steal a cube from Honey Venom!?" Bumblebee asked in alarm.

"No, you could get a cube anywhere," Hangar told him, "I want something more personal to prove you actually got it from Honey Venom. I want you to steal one of her books. She keeps data pads under her berth when she's still reading them. So, you sneak in, take a book, and bring it back here. Come back alive and with the goods, and you're an official Wreckling. What do you say, little guy? You mech enough?"

Bumblebee thought about it. He hated Decepticons, and he especially hated Honey Venom. To pull one over on her sounded like fun. Then again, she was toxic. She could kill him in a matter of breems. He saw what her victims looked like. They suffered, and their gears melted. Even the adults weren't immune, although they didn't die from it. He also hated resorting to stealing something he didn't need. Fuel was one thing, but a book? It didn't seem worth it.

"I'm sorry Hangar, but I won't do it," Bumblebee finally said, "It isn't right. Stealing is wrong, even if it is from Honey Venom."

"Is that your final word, minibot?" Hangar asked as he narrowed his optics at the yellow sparkling.

"Yes, Hangar. I'm sorry," Bumblebee said as his shoulders slumped.

"Well then we have no more business, _reject_ ," Hangar turned to leave, and Piston followed him.

Bumblebee sat down on the floor feeling dejected. He wanted a gang. He wanted to feel safe when he walked the grounds or recharged at night. He wanted friends. He wanted a family. Still, it wasn't worth risking his life and incurring the wrath of one of the most dangerous Decepticons in the compound just to make them like him. He couldn't do it.

He didn't realize though that someone else had been listening to their conversation.

* * *

 _Clack_!

Bumblebee looked away from the floor he was scrubbing to see what fell behind him, and he saw that someone had dropped a data pad. He looked at it, but couldn't read what it said. He did, however, recognize the figure on the cover; Optimus Prime. He loved Optimus Prime and wanted to be just like him when he was upgraded. He smiled as he skimmed through the data pad's photos and saw all sorts of Autobots fighting bravely and posing in more sedate settings as well.

Bumblebee looked around to see who had dropped the data pad after a few breems, but it didn't look like anyone else was awake. He had to stay up late scrubbing the floors as part of a punishment for crying too loudly. He was just grateful the caretaker didn't feel like strapping him.

He walked outside to see if there was anyone out there who was awake and had dropped the data pad. Maybe an adult had dropped it. If so, then he hoped he wouldn't get in trouble for leaving his job to find them. He finally saw a figure sitting on the wall and looking out at the remains of the city. It took him a moment to recognize the lone femme; Honey Venom.

Bumblebee didn't know whether to return the data pad to the scary femmeling or go back inside and get back to work. He decided to turn to leave.

"Hello Bumblebee," Honey Venom said without turning around, causing the little 'Bot to nearly jump out of his plating, "Climb up here. Talk to me."

Bumblebee gulped and took in a deep intake of air, but he did as he was told. From what he understood Honey Venom could shoot her nail turrets like arrows, and he didn't feel like getting shot by her poison claws for disobeying her. He clamoured up the wall and sat down tentatively next to the gold femme.

"I see you found my data pad," Honey Venom said without looking at him, " _You_ _little thief._ What do you plan to do with it?"

"I was going to give it back to you!" Bumblebee said quickly, "Honest! You dropped it, I think, and I came here to give it to you."

"No you didn't," Honey Venom smiled knowingly, but never took her optics off the scene ahead of her, "You snuck into my room, and you stole that book for Hangar. You're going to take one of my prized data pads and give it to that little slagger, aren't you Bumblebee?"

Her words sounded like an accusation, but she said them as if it were an inside joke.

"Um, I don't understand," Bumblebee finally admitted, "Don't you want it back?"

"On the level? No," Honey Venom said bluntly, "I heard what you said to that little scrap pile. You're an idiot, you know that? You won't survive without a gang. You need that book more than I do. I don't even like that one. It's the history of the Autobots and the personal biography of Optimus Prime. It's two books on one data pad. I got a pretty good deal on it though. It only cost me a timing belt and some rusty gears."

"Wait, so you're _giving_ this to me?" Bumblebee asked incredulously.

"No, you _stole_ it," Honey Venom said with a wink, "Also, we are now eternal enemies and I hereby swear revenge on the Wrecklings, you glitch."

Honey Venom said that last bit in jest, and Bumblebee actually found himself smiling at the femme's uncharacteristic generosity.

"So Honey Venom, is there anything I can do to pay you back?" Bumblebee asked, since he knew Decepticons weren't the type to give outright.

"Yes, there is," Honey Venom said with fake sweetness, and then in a flat tone said "Stop being stupid. You're brave for a sparkling, I'll give you that, but you're not careful. You need a gang, yet you frag off the leader of the biggest Autobot gang in the foundling home. And why? Because you think it's wrong to steal from me! That's ridiculous! I would've stolen from you. Pit, I would've ripped your arm off and left you in the dust! I could still do that. You need to take better care of yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you."

"I could still get adopted," Bumblebee contested, "I want a family, and I still believe that I'll have one someday. I feel sorry for you, Honey Venom. You've been hopeless for as long as I've known you. Maybe if you tried harder a family would adopt you, too."

"I'm too old for that," Honey Venom said solemnly, "I'm 5 vorns old. I'm old enough for an upgrade. I'm old enough to contract the spark crushing disease. There is no hope for me. For you, maybe. You're only a vorn old. You still have time. Even Q-Boom is only a vorn old. She still has time. Me though? I'm already dead. Bumblebee...just go. Take the book to Hangar, and tell no one about this conversation."

Bumblebee wanted to say something to comfort her, but he couldn't. She turned her back on him, and he was afraid of pushing his luck with her. One angry moment and she could still kill him. Bowing his helm sadly, Bumblebee turned and left; still holding the data pad to take to Hangar as a peace offering.

* * *

Another vorn passed. Honey Venom was 6 vorns old, and Q-Boom was 2 vorns old. Bumblebee had become a member of the Wrecklings, and since then she had refused to speak to him. After a solid vorn of torment and coldness Bumblebee had learned to hate and distrust Honey Venom and Q-Boom. She wouldn't have it any other way.

The day cycle had ended, and curfew was in 5 breems. The orphans scrambled to scrub their berths and bodies as best as they could, and then all ran to stand by their berths so the caretaker could inspect them. Any failed inspections would lead to swift punishment; usually in the form of grueling chores.

Honey Venom stood at perfect attention, and she looked down the aisle to see Q-Boom scraping her claw against an energon stain trying to make it less visible. The seekerling never was very punctual. Honey Venom rolled her optics and hoped Q-Boom finished before the caretaker came in and saw the stain.

The caretaker came in a breem or two later. Honey Venom saw that it was Lashback, a broad lavender and grey femme with bits of missing dental plating and four flat tires at her pedes. She was hateful, but usually fair.

The oversized truck-former lumbered down the hall slowly and carefully looked at each sparkling and each berth. She would turn over berths in search of contraband, and she would scowl at any sparkling that dared to look her in the optic for even a second. Honey Venom was grateful the old battle axe never bothered to search the subspace compartments. The femmeling had a few spark casings that she didn't want the caretakers to know about.

The caretaker stopped at the berth of a little white and back femmeling and pulled back the base of the recharge station. Honey Venom spared a glance at the other sparkling. She had never seen this sparkling before. She didn't know how she missed a new arrival coming to the foundling home. The sparkling showed no emotion on her face, but her digits twitching gave away her nervousness.

"Aha!" Lashback shouted in triumph, and the sparkling shrunk into herself, "I knew it! I knew you were hiding something from me! These are private records from our own offices! How did you get these, you little wretch?"

The sparkling said nothing. She just looked up at the caretaker with large fearful yellow optics.

"Answer me, you piece of junk!" Lashback ordered, "Alright then, since you won't tell me where you got these records, then I guess I'll just have to teach you what happens to those that go snooping where they don't belong! Open your compartment! _Now_!"

The sparkling warbled and clutched her left hip. She took a step back, but the caretaker roughly grabbed her arm and forcibly opened the door! She took out a white cassette, and the sparkling started making incoherent noises and trying to grab it back from the irate Lashback. The cassette transformed into a round creature with six tiny legs, and it struggled in vain to get out of the caretaker's rusted hand.

" _Relatives_ ," Honey Venom whispered quietly to herself as she took in the scene.

This sparkling didn't come in alone. She came in with cassettes. They would die without the carrier sparkling, and the carrier likely had nothing and no one else in the universe but those symbiotes. She couldn't have been more than a vorn old, and for some reason Honey Venom didn't quite understand, she felt like she needed to do something to help this little family out.

Lashback let go of the sparkling's arm, but held onto the cassette. She took out a vibroblade, and held it to one of the tiny symbiote's spindly legs; ready to cut it off!

"PLeEaSe!" The sparkling begged in a distorted grating voice, "NOooO!"

"Wait!" Honey Venom ran up to the caretaker, and the rest of the sparklings stared in shock as she ran right up to the imposing adult with the knife, "She's innocent! I took the reports, and I hid them under her berth. I'm sorry. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I don't even know what the files are for."

The truth was Honey Venom had little interest in files, and she had nothing to do with any of this. She felt weird for confessing to something she didn't do, and she began to feel like a moron for doing this. Why did she go out of her way to save a couple of strangers? It didn't add up.

" _You_ did this?" Lashback snarled, and Honey Venom nodded resolutely, "Very well then. Looks like I misjudged you, Terrabyte. Honey Venom, against the wall!"

"Are you going to cut me open?" Honey Venom asked nervously.

"I should," Lashback growled, "You're worth more to us dead than alive. This time though, I'll settle for giving you a good hard strapping."

"Yes, ma'am," Honey Venom replied without argument.

Honey Venom knew this would be painful, but it wasn't exactly the first time this had ever happened. No, rather than the pain she was more focused on trying to diagnose her internal malfunction. Why did she save the symbiote? Why did she help the carrier femme?

Then suddenly she realized why. Honey Venom in a moment of clarity realized how the new family could be useful to her. The other gangs were getting bigger, but Honey Venom and Q-Boom were still a gang of two. With this act of kindness, not only was the carrier in debt to her, but the symbiotes as well. Honey Venom knew she had at least one cassette, and she might have more. Yes, this could be worth the marks on her armor after all.

* * *

The next orn Honey Venom awoke to find that there was someone over her berth staring at her! She shot upright and looked into the bright yellow optics of the carrier femmeling from the previous night cycle.

"What are you doing at my berth!?" Honey Venom demanded to know.

"YouR NaMe is...HonEy VeNom," The sparkling said matter-of-factly, "I rEAd youR FiLe. My namE is TerRaBytE. ThaNK You."

"Do you still have the files copied to your memory banks?" Honey Venom asked as she eyed the sparkling for any signs of trouble.

The sparkling nodded.

"Then download them to my memory banks and I'll consider us even," Honey Venom ordered.

"YeS, HonEy VenoM," Terrabyte replied with a respectful nod.

Terrabyte connected her medical diagnostic chord to Honey Venom's helm with great care. It was risky to transfer data in such a manner, and frankly no sparkling should ever do such a thing, but Terrabyte managed it. Honey Venom had time to think about the files since going to recharge that night. With those files she would know who had sigma abilities and who didn't. She would know when newsparks were going to be introduced to the general population. In short, she wouldn't have to guess anymore. She would have all the knowledge she needed.

Once the transfer was completed and the files were safely in her processor, Honey Venom wasted no time in opening them. One thing she found surprised her. Terrabyte was listed as having a sigma ability that was inactive due to combat damage. For the moment that made the little carrier useless, but if Honey Venom was anything it was patient. If they both lived long enough for their upgrades, then Terrabyte could be a very useful and dangerous weapon.

"We aRe EveN. ThaNk YoU," Terrabyte said as she turned to go.

"Wait a moment," Honey Venom said calmly, "Are you currently in a gang?"

"No," Terrabyte replied, "TheY do NoT waNt Me. I am wEak."

"Would you like to join the Sigma Sisters?" Honey Venom asked, "I am the leader, and so far Q-Boom is the only other member, but we are feared and manage to get a lot of energon and favors from the other gangs."

"You WoulD WAnt me?" Terrabyte asked skeptically, "WhY?"

"Can you really afford to ask me that?" Honey Venom replied pointedly.

"No," Terrabyte replied honestly, "You WiLL ProTeCt me?"

"Yes," Honey Venom nodded.

"And My CaSseTteS?" Terrabyte asked.

"Yes, of course. A gang is a family!" Honey Venom said magnanimously, "If you're a Sigma Sister, then we'll be closer than kin. I did take a strapping for you, didn't I? Does that not prove my intent?"

Terrabyte then smiled at Honey Venom, and they grasped each other's servos in a pact to support each other. Honey Venom wouldn't know for some time just how damaged Terrabyte really was, or just how loyal she would be to her new friend. For that moment all Honey Venom saw was new subordinates, and all Terrabyte saw was protection from the dangerous inmates at the foundling home.

* * *

The next vorn passed with the new gang of six becoming not only a threat to the other orphans, but also an information gathering collective. Terrabyte, as it turned out, was a Cybertronian with incredible stealth and focus. Anytime Honey Venom needed information from the caretaker's files, or someone to spy on the other gangs, she always called on Terrabyte.

They had settled into a comfortable groove over that vorn. Honey Venom was the calculated strategist, Q-Boom was the enforcer, and Terrabyte was the spy. Together they were a team of young Decepticon warriors in the making.

Bumblebee, meanwhile, stayed with the Wrecklings mostly because he had nowhere else to go. His gang didn't pay much attention to him unless they needed someone to take the blame for something or do their chores for them. They protected him from the other gangs, but they weren't his friends.

The yellow minibot was 3 vorns old now, and more than anything in the world he wanted a family of his own. There were only two occasions when potential adopters came to the section for older sparklings that he could remember. The first time it had been a nice neutral couple, but they adopted Turbo Load instead of Bumblebee. He was happy for Turbo Load, but he was also a little upset that the couple didn't even notice him. The second adopter had been a Decepticon, and he heard the caretakers say that mech was a slaver. He had taken 5 mechlings and 2 femmelings with him. Bumblebee was grateful he wasn't noticed that day.

On this particular orn Honey Venom and her gang were drinking their allotted energon. Q-Boom laughed as she watched Screwball, Terrabyte's silver cassette, slurp his energon with his glossa like a hungry cyberhound. Terrabyte had to feed Turret by hand since he couldn't reach the cube on his own. Honey Venom drank languidly with Terrabyte's bird cassette, Shriek, perched on her arm.

They still called themselves the Sigma Sisters even though Screwball and Turret were technically mechs, but at this point nobody wanted to memorize a new name. Honey Venom didn't technically count them as gang members anyway; just relatives of her resident saboteur Terrabyte.

As they drank their energon, Honey Venom suddenly got this vice-like pain in her spark, and she gasped as she tried to subtly press her hand against her chassis. She hoped no one else noticed, but of course nothing got past her sisters.

"Yo Honey Venom, what's wrong?" Q-Boom asked, "You look kinda weird."

"ArE yOu okAY?" Terrabyte asked; concerned.

"Of course, I'm fine. I'm just savoring in my energon!" Honey Venom said loudly, but then over the comm she said /You idiots! The caretakers are watching!/

/So?/ Q-Boom asked over their private frequency.

/So, I have the spark disease!/ Honey Venom snapped, /I've had it for a while now. It comes and goes, but when the caretakers find out about this they'll stop feeding me. I have to keep this to myself, and I expect you to do the same. Understand?/

/Yes, HoNey VenoM,/ Terrabyte replied dutifully, though her voice still sounded worried.

/I guess…/ Q-Boom replied, though she didn't sound too sure of herself.

Honey Venom tried taking in more air to relieve the pain, but that did nothing to help. She was in agony, but she dared not show it for fear of being starved to death. Those caretakers were sparkless drones as far as she was concerned, and if every one of them burned she wouldn't shed a tear.

Suddenly, the front door burst open, and five soldiers wielding guns and cannons stormed inside!

The caretakers shouted at them, and the orphans huddled together in the far corners of the room. At that point it didn't matter which gang any of the sparklings belonged to. All that mattered was huge scary adults with weapons were looking around the room with hard expressions on their face plates. Little Autobots and little Decepticons joined together for the common goal of not dying at the servos of the scary adults.

"What is wrong with you stupid slagging Autobots!?" Mangle shouted at the lead mech holding a rather impressive cannon.

"We got word there was a 'Con sighting," the red mech drawled as he gave Mangle a challenging glare, "If yer hiding them, then yer in serious trouble, _Decepticon_."

"This is a foundling home! We are here to care for the sparklings _your kind_ have displaced!" Mangle bellowed; not backing down from the warrior.

"Forget about him, Ironhide," a blue femme said as she placed an affectionate hand on his shoulder, "Let's just search the berth room, but hold your nose. Blurr says it smells like something died in there...or purged."

"Fine Chromia, for yer sake, I won't rip him apart," Ironhide said with a cheeky smile as he followed her into the barracks.

Terrabyte was on the verge of a panic attack at this point. They were _Autobots_. They were Autobots and Autobots had killed her family and destroyed her home. If they came for her or her cassettes she didn't know what she would do. Terrabyte rocked back and forth and held down the door to her cassette chamber. She was on the verge of tears, and only hoped she wasn't visible to their current occupiers.

"Those two are a bonded pair…" Honey Venom mused as she watched the way the Autobot commander interacted with his spark mate.

She watched them until she couldn't see them anymore. The Autobot couple was tough, but also happy with each other. She also saw that there were three other soldiers. It was a unit that behaved in a friendly manner toward each other and an aggressive manner toward everyone else. An adult gang.

With this observation in mind, she looked around at the frightened sparklings in the corner with her and her sisters. Out of all of them she noticed one that didn't look at the adults in fear. Bumblebee looked at them with longing, and she knew he was still searching for that illusive family. On the one hand she envied and hated Bumblebee for his blind optimism and willingness to be his own mech. On the other hand, she also respected him for those very reasons. It was hard for her to understand, let alone explain.

Despite her misgivings, Honey Venom knew the adults didn't care about the sparkling population here. This foundling home was run by Decepticons, and they hated Decepticons and anything associated with them.

"Wait...That's it!" Honey Venom whispered to herself as an idea formed in her processor.

She knew she couldn't leave Terrabyte's side since the poor carrier would probably offline due to fear without her. Still, she had the chance to do something nice for someone else. She didn't know why she wanted to, but she really did deep down in her spark want to see Bumblebee happy for once in his miserable life. She could only think of one solution.

Honey Venom watched the door to the barracks and waited for the soldiers to get out of there. Apparently they didn't find whatever they were looking for, because they still eyed the caretakers suspiciously.

/Q, I need you to attack Bumblebee,/ Honey Venom said the instant she saw the adults.

/Oh yeah? Want me to bring you back one of his horns?/ Q-Boom replied with enthusiasm.

/No, but I need you to make a lot of noise,/ Honey Venom replied, /Make him scream, and I mean _really_ scream. Get the attention of the soldiers./

/ _What_? Why?/ Q-Boom asked nervously.

/There's a bonded pair among them,/ Honey Venom explained, /This is an adoption ploy./

/They won't adopt me!/ Q-Boom argued, /Even if I rip him to pieces, they'll never accept a Decepticon sparkling!/

/No Q, you don't get it,/ Honey Venom sighed over the comm, /Decepticons adopt _victors_ , but Autobots adopt _victims_. This will get Bumblebee out of our lives forever. Do it now before they leave!/

Q-Boom nodded in Honey Venom's general direction, and then set the plan in motion. She kicked Bumblebee in the spinal strut and pounced on him when he was down! He cried and wailed as she assaulted him with her fists and claws! The Autobot soldiers turned to see what all the commotion was about and saw a Decepticon seekerling attacking a helpless Autobot minibot.

/They're looking at you!/ Honey Venom hissed over the comm, /Sell it, Q!/

"This'll teach you to mess with us, Autobot slagger!" Q-Boom yelled at Bumblebee; knowing that slurring his faction would win sympathy for him.

"Why are you doing this?" Bumblebee cried impotently as he covered his helm with his arms, "I didn't do anything!"

"You were _born_ , Autobot! That's enough reason!" Q-Boom hammed it up as she got off Bumblebee and kicked him in the side.

"Alright, that's enough you little brat!" The red Autobot, Ironhide, growled as he went to Bumblebee's aid.

"Figures. Even as sparklings they're pure evil," Chromia commented as she shook her helm at the sight of a glaring Q-Boom.

Ironhide then picked Bumblebee up, and the little sparkling whimpered and hugged the older mech tight. Ironhide was surprised when he felt the little mechling's spark reaching out to his for comfort, even though they were total strangers!

"Chromia, this little guy's tryin' to bond with me!" Ironhide exclaimed in awe.

"Really?" Chromia asked, "Well it's no wonder. Look at this place. You think a poor little Autobot sparkling is gonna find love and compassion from those so-called _caretakers_? I don't think so."

"Yougonnatakehimwithus?" Blurr asked curiously.

"I don't know," Ironhide looked down at the curled up yellow form and smiled despite himself, "I want to, but we're a traveling battalion. What kind of life is that for a little guy like him?"

Q-Boom didn't want to have to deal with Bumblebee after nearly beating the fluids out of him. She saw his chances for a home slipping away, and while she didn't know why Honey Venom had chosen Bumblebee for this charade, she had to admit that she was excited at the idea of an actual adoption happening. She had to find some way to make this happen for him!

"Hey, Buzzkill!" Q-Boom yelled up at Bumblebee, and he began to tremble in Ironhide's arms, "Yeah, that's right, I'm talkin' to you! You can hide behind the grown ups now, but when they leave I'm gonna blow you to the pit! You hear me? The pit!"

Q-Boom knew she was laying it on thick, but she had to make Bumblebee believe he was in real danger. If he believed it, then they would believe it. If they believed it, then they would take him away and never look back. She only hoped they wouldn't decide to just shoot her instead.

"We can't leave him here with that overgrown buzzard," Chromia told Ironhide, "We have to take him with us. Our unit might not be the safest place in the world, but I'm pretty sure anything beats leaving him at the mercy of that little Starscream wannabe and the rest of these Decepticon delinquents."

"Well, we had talked about having one of our own after the war…" Ironhide pondered, "He is kinda cute. What's yer name, little guy?"

"Um, my name is Bumblebee, sir," Bumblebee said timidly, "Will you please be my new daddy? I promise to be good."

Ironhide and Chromia couldn't help the smiles that crossed their faces. Bumblebee was just the most precious sparkling they had ever seen, and to leave him there in Altihex just seemed criminal. They walked away with their new little bundle and paid the fee to officially adopt him.

During the Golden Age of Cybertron adoptions had involved lots of paperwork and background checks on the family, but the city was barely able to support life now thanks to the war, and such luxuries could no longer be afforded. That was why slavers would look for stock in foundling homes such as that one. In this case though, it meant Bumblebee got to leave within a matter of breems and never had to look back.


	4. Four Is Power

_Author's Note: I added a couple extra scenes at the last minute to make this chapter longer as well as give some insight into the thought processes of the different sparklings. I hope this chapter turned out well. There's only one more to go after this one. Please review if you feel like it since I love hearing from my readers :)_

* * *

Chapter 4

Four Is Power

Over the next vorn Honey Venom was discovered by the caretakers as having the spark crushing disease, and her name was no longer called out for the daily energon ration. The other orphans thought that would soon be the end of the tiny tyrant, but they didn't count on the other Sigmas sharing part of their rations with her.

While Honey Venom managed to survive, she still became sicker. She could see the predatory looks of the caretakers, and she understood why. Her armor was infused with electrum, one of the most rare and valuable minerals in the universe, and her internal systems had many fancy add-ons. In short, her body was a meal ticket that could only be cashed once the spark was extinguished. She was worth more to them dead than alive. Part of her would sometimes ponder why they didn't just murder her in her recharge. She suspected they were cowards afraid to face her toxin if she caught them.

The threat of termination didn't stop Honey Venom from trying to expand her empire, however. They had moved beyond mere stealing to all sorts of trade agreements with the other sparklings. Terrabyte was to thank for that one, since the little carrier had quite the processor for business. Of course if a sparkling didn't pay the Sigma Sisters what they were owed, that was when Honey Venom and Q-Boom stepped in.

They also continued to hack the files of the caretakers. The Sigmas knew about every sparkling and ever caretaker in the foundling home, and they had blackmailed many sparklings to get what they wanted. Terrabyte also sold a transformation cog she swiped off a corpse to Lashback when she learned the elderly femme didn't have the ability to transform anymore. That bought them more energon, which bought Honey Venom more time.

On this day they were going over the scheduled new arrivals from the newspark center. Q-Boom entertained the cassettes since Honey Venom and Terrabyte were the only ones that could read the list. Screwball bit Q-Boom's leg, and she roughed up his helm playfully. Q-Boom had learned long ago that the brain-damaged little mech meant no harm by biting and simply didn't know any better, so she didn't yell at him for it anymore.

"Terrabyte, look at this," Honey Venom said as she pointed to the schedule, "What does this mean, TBK?"

"To bE kiLLed," Terrabyte informed her, "ThE NeWsPaRK is of Age. NoW TheY Can LegaLLy Kill it."

"Why do they want to kill the sparkling instead of leaving it out here with us?" Honey Venom asked.

"The SparKliNg is an...EnerGon LeeCH," Terrabyte explained.

"Really? Then how did it live this long?" Q-Boom asked with mild curiosity.

"HoW ELse?" Terrabyte asked as she pulled up video footage on her chest screen.

The image showed a young femmeling with dull blue-grey and black colors going from berth to berth while her fellow sparklings were sleeping and gently sucking out their energon while they recharged; unaware of her actions.

"Yikes!" Q-Boom shuddered, "That thing has been in here for a _vorn_? The sooner they kill that little parasite the better!"

"No, they won't kill her," Honey Venom declared, "Not if we get to her first."

"No way! Why would you wanna save an energon leech?" Q-Boom asked in disbelief, "They're monsters! Look at her!"

"I am looking. Are _you_?" Honey Venom asked challengingly, "Because that femme is going to strike fear into the sparks of all who see her. Fear is power, and I want that power. I want that leech in the Sigma Sisters, and the best way to make that happen is to save her from the caretakers."

"She Will be ExECuteD ToMoRRoW," Terrabyte informed them.

"Then we strike now," Honey Venom ordered, "Terrabyte, get me that leech."

YeS, HoneY VeNom," Terrabyte nodded and snuck along the walls and into the room with the newsparks.

"Are you nuts?" Q-Boom asked once Terrabyte was gone, "Our rations are down due to you gettin' cut off, and now you want a gang member that'll literally suck the energon from our armor? She'll kill us all, and she'll kill you first!"

"The benefit is worth the sacrifice," Honey Venom told her, but then had to take a deep breath when her spark caught in its casing, "I won't be around forever. You will be the new leader when I'm gone...and you'll need your own muscle. Train that new sparkling...to obey your every command. Someday, the Sigmas...will rule Altihex. You still want that, don't you?"

"Yeah, sure," Q-Boom shrugged, "I guess I'll try to get along with the leech."

"Thank you," Honey Venom smiled as her body fell into recharge where she sat on the floor.

Q-Boom sighed as she looked at Honey Venom. The idea of the Sigmas dominating Altihex was appealing, she had to admit that, but she didn't want to be in charge. She didn't like making the hard decisions. She couldn't be both fun and functional, and all she really wanted to be was the former.

* * *

Phobia heard a noise coming from the big door they kept locked. She huddled into herself and listened for whatever it might've been. Maybe it was just a turbo rat. They had those. Most didn't like the turbo rats, but Phobia thought they were cute.

She hoped it wasn't a big sparkling. Phobia had heard scary stories about the big sparklings just outside the big locked door. The big sparklings lived in feral packs and attacked anything that moved. They killed little sparklings, and they would definitely kill her because of what she was. Phobia had always known she was a bad sparkling. She ate other people's energon, and that made her bad.

 _Abomination_. That was the word the caretakers used. Phobia was an abomination. She looked wrong, she acted wrong, she ate wrong...everything was just wrong! She was probably going to be thrown to the big sparklings for sport, assuming the adults didn't just kill her first. She took a deep breath and tried to make the bad thoughts go away.

She turned around to try to get more comfortable, but when she did she saw that there was someone staring at her with big yellow optics and a white expressionless face!

"AHH!" Phobia shrieked, "No, leave me alone!"

Static crackled from the other femmeling, and Phobia flinched. She didn't know what kind of situation she was in, but she was sure about one thing; that was an older sparkling!

"YoU wiLL ComE wITh me," Terrabyte insisted as she held out her delicate servo for Phobia to take.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" Phobia asked miserably.

"SparKLingS WithOUt GanGs...DiE MucH YouNGer," Terrabyte explained, "YoU Will bE ProTEcTed by our GaNg, the SigMa SisTeRs."

"You don't care that I'm bad?" Phobia asked warily.

"It HeLps, ACTualLy," Terrabyte replied honestly.

Phobia didn't know what the other femmeling meant by that, but she did know that being protected sounded a lot better than being pulverized, so she took Terrabyte's hand and allowed the carrier to lead her into the world beyond the newspark room. She would soon learn that the world outside those doors was just as bad as she thought, and that the Sigmas really were her best hope for survival.

* * *

If Honey Venom had wanted to further isolate the Sigma Sisters by bringing Phobia into the fold, well then she succeeded. The other sparklings went from being antagonistic and nervous to outright hostile and frightened of the overpowered femmes. Phobia was a being of unspeakable evil in the processors of the other sparklings, and even the adults on some level believed this to be true.

On the one hand Honey Venom loved the power this gave her over her peers, but on the other hand she began to see that having Phobia in their gang was changing the dynamics of their group. For one thing, this sparkling had a loving and charitable spirit. Phobia's overly sweet disposition was so overwhelming to the other Sigmas that it was as if they had accidentally allowed an Autobot into their Decepticon gang. She would find things on the ground to give to her fellow gang members as presents, she would try to befriend other sparklings despite their fear of her, and she would openly cry when she was upset...no matter _who_ was watching!

It also had an unforeseen impact on Q-Boom. Since Terrabyte usually gave Honey Venom half of her ration, that meant Q-Boom would have to give up half of her ration to Phobia, and the only way to do that was to allow the leech to suck it out of her plating. Q-Boom was terrified at first, and had even threatened to "accidentally" detonate to keep the little parasite away from her.

When the moment of truth came for the first time, Q-Boom grimaced and sat down on her berth; awaiting the mechanical vampire's bite. Phobia settled in next to Q-Boom and locked the suckers on her hands into Q-Boom's armor.

It hurt for a second, but the real test of endurance came when Q-Boom felt the drawing sensation of energon leaving her body. She squirmed and quivered, but didn't try to pull the leech off. She was sure she was going to die because of this little helmache.

As Phobia fed off Q-Boom, she settled her helm onto the seekerling's shoulder guard. Q-Boom barely saw the contented smile on Phobia's face plate, but she could feel the thrum of the little thing's spark and hear the humming as Phobia fought recharge.

"Thank you, Q-Boom..." Phobia said drowsily since she was already halfway asleep.

"For what?" Q-Boom asked; trying to distract herself from the procedure.

"For letting me feed off you," Phobia breathed, "You're the first one that ever knew I was doing it and still didn't make me stop. Do you think Honey Venom and Terrabyte will ever let me feed off them?"

"Terrabyte ain't gonna get a choice," Q-Boom said with a bite to her tone, "I ain't doin' this tomorrow. That bein' said, you probably shouldn't try this with Honey Venom. She's sick, and she needs as much energon as she can get."

"Okay," Phobia said with acceptance, "You girls are my best friends forever. I wish my mommy had been just like you."

Q-Boom couldn't respond to that. She didn't know _how_ to respond to that. Q-Boom was a gang enforcer, a living weapon, and one of the meanest sparklings in the foundling home. No one had ever thought of her as nice, and no one ever wanted to emulate her personality. For Phobia to say Q-Boom was good enough to be a mother...

The seekerling took another look at the tiny blue-grey servo on her arm, and patted it with her own servo. Innocence was rare and valuable in the foundling home, and also something that was quickly crushed. Q-Boom looked down at the sleeping sparkling and swore in her spark that she would protect Phobia for as long as she could. She would be the guardian Phobia believed she could be.

* * *

Phobia had been with the gang for ten solar cycles before they allowed her to go with them on a raid. They would sneak out of the foundling home late at night and prowl the streets in search of hidden treasures to sell or use. Phobia had begged to go with them for cycles, and this night was finally the night!

Terrabyte went out first to make sure the coast was clear, and then sent Shriek out to give the signal for the other Sigmas to follow her. Phobia was impressed by how official everything looked, and she stayed close to Honey Venom and Q-Boom as they tip-toed out of the compound.

Once outside, the femmelings got to work scouring the surrounding roads and alleyways. Many of the buildings were nothing but rubble, so there was a lot of digging involved. Phobia wasn't too sure of herself, but when she found a building with rubble that was still warm she decided to dig there. Honey Venom had told her that when the metal fragments were warm that meant the destruction was recent, and therefore there was more stuff to loot.

Phobia threw away pieces of warped steel and little fragments of what had once been walls and windows. She needed to show no fear of finding a dead body. Dead frames were valuable. Finding a dead body meant spark chambers for Honey Venom's collection, transformation cogs for the black market, upgrades to trade for energon, and so much more. Every piece of a Cybertronian had a market value, and Phobia needed to learn the trade to survive.

After digging for a quarter joor Phobia came across a servo poking out of the rubble! She stifled a scream, and despite her reluctance continued to dig around the body to unearth it from its compressed tomb. She managed to dig out its helm, chassis, and arms. The chassis was partially open and sparking. It looked like a symbiote compartment. That meant this guy was a carrier. Phobia felt bad for him, and worse for his symbiotes since they were probably out there dying without their carrier. His offline visor and blue and white frame were so creepy. Wait...

"What was it that Honey Venom told me?" Phobia said to herself, "If it's grey then it's done, but if there's color then you run. This mech isn't grey, so he's not dead. That means he's alive, and...Uh oh. _Honey Venom_! _Q-Boom_! _Terrabyte_!"

It took less than a breem for the other Sigmas to make their way over to Phobia, who at this point was standing a few yards away from the downed mech just in case he woke up and decided to harm her.

"What is it, Phobia?" Honey Vneom asked when she got there.

"There's a live mech in the rubble! What do we do?" Phobia asked worriedly.

"What faction is he?" Honey Venom inquired.

"I don't know, I got nervous!" Phobia whined.

"Always check the faction symbol!" Honey Venom chided her, "Q, check him!"

"On it!" Q-Boom shouted as she flew up to the rubble pile and peered at the mech's chassis for a second, "He's one of ours! Get your afts up here and help me dig him out!"

The other Sigma Sisters climbed up the pile of scrap to get to Q-Boom and the Decepticon carrier. The first thing Terrabyte did was order Screwball out so he could start digging. He was very good at digging in rubble, and apparently it was one of his many favorite things to do. They all pitched in to dig out the mech, but Honey Venom stopped and gasped when she got a good look at the mech.

"What's your problem?" Q-Boom asked Honey Venom.

"You you know who this is?" Honey Venom asked in awe, "This is Soundwave! This is _the_ Soundwave!"

"So, who's that?" Q-Boom asked indifferently.

"Are you a moron?" Honey Venom asked in disbelief, " _Soundwave_! He's the third highest ranking Decepticon of all time! He is Megatron's optics and audio sensors! This mech single-handedly took down senators, council-mechs, and even the very heart of Cybertron itself; Iacon! We are standing among a legend! I've got to get a souvenir!"

"Aw, slag! She's in crazy-collector mode again," Q-Boom groused, "Hey, could you try not acting like Lady Shockwave for a change? Hey, don't chip off his helmet, ya loon!"

"I'm just taking a small piece," Honey Venom replied defensively, "Hey, at least I'm not reaching in and pulling out his spark chamber. If I ever meet an Autobot legend though, I'll do exactly that."

Q-Boom sighed and went back to work. Normally Q-Boom was the insane one and Honey Venom was the straight-laced one. This role reversal wasn't too much fun for the seekerling.

It took 20 breems, but they finally completely dug out the Decepticons' communications officer. He was still unconscious, and his cassettes were nowhere to be found. The sparklings didn't know whether to stay with him or go for help. They didn't know how badly damaged he was, or if he would survive. All they could tell was he was in a battle and the building had collapsed on him. They sat there for a while, but nothing changed. Finally, Terrabyte sent out Shriek to scout the area for friendlies.

"Girls?" Phobia called out softly after a few more breems, "I'm hungry."

"feed off the dead guy," Q-Boom said with a shrug.

"Soundwave isn't dead," Honey Venom admonished Q-Boom, "You can feed off me, Phobia."

"Q-Boom said not to," Phobia informed her, "She said you were sick."

"Who's in charge here, Phobia?" Honey Venom pointed out, "Latch onto my shoulder and _feed_."

Phobia was reluctant to do anything that would harm Honey Venom, but she also didn't want to disobey the gold femmeling. She scooted closer, feeling the scratches on her legs from the debris, and latched her hands onto Honey Venom's shoulder struts. As Phobia fed Honey Venom groaned from the strain it was putting on her spark, but she knew if there was an emergency Q-Boom would need her strength to fly and Terrabyte would need energon to support her symbiotes, so she continued feeding the little leech.

Finally, Shriek returned with news for Terrabyte. They conversed with each other in a language only they understood, and the other sparklings waited with halted intakes for the news.

"ShRIek SayS TheRe aRe SymBiOteS ComInG ThiS WaY," Terrabyte informed them.

"How many?" Honey Venom asked.

"SiX," Terrabyte replied.

"Let's get out of here," Honey Venom groaned as she struggled to stand up after losing so much energon, "When they arrive we don't want them think we...ow...were responsible for what happened to...Soundwave."

The Sigma Sisters returned to the foundling home without looking back. They didn't collect anything worth selling, but it was an experience they wouldn't soon forget. They were actually close enough to touch one of the most powerful mechs on Cybertron.


	5. Freedom vs Tyranny

_Author's Notes: Not again! It's another stupidly long chapter! I've only gone over 5,000 words twice so far, and both times it's been in this fic! I guess some people prefer long chapters because it gives them more story. I just hope I don't start writing them longer than this. Anything over 6,500 words is just unnecessary. That's just my opinion though. Everybody's different. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the conclusion to this story (which was supposed to be a oneshot) and I look forward to reading your reviews :)_

* * *

Chapter 5

Freedom vs. Tyranny

Tearjerker felt like livestock. Her master, Dirge, was talking over the terms with a mech named Mangle for keeping her at the Altihex foundling home. They spoke about her as if she weren't there, and Dirge would use terms like 'my slave' and 'the femme' and her least favorite of all, 'my pleasure bot'. Mangle was just as bad by constantly referring to her simply as 'the Autobot'.

She kept telling herself in her mind that this would all be worth it. She might not be technically free, but she wouldn't have to serve Dirge for a long while. When the new off-world assignment came to Dirge and his trine he had tried to sell Tearjerker to someone else, but she was too large and too ugly to make a good pleasure femme to most. Tearjerker begged him to allow her to work with war orphans while he was gone and promised to go back to him once he returned. It had taken joors of convincing before he granted her request, and even at that he only agreed when he found out Altihex's foundling home was run by Decepticons. He figured they would keep her in line.

After Dirge left her true orientation began. Mangle walked her into the staff room and introduced her to the other caretakers. They didn't seem too fond of her, but she knew it was only because she was an Autobot prisoner. She figured she couldn't change their minds, so she would keep her helm down and simply do her job to the best of her ability.

"Your job is tedious, but simple," Mangle told her as he showed her a two way mirror where she could observe the orphans, "Every day at 32:00 hours you call their names one by one to collect their energon cubes. At curfew every five orns it will be your turn to inspect their berths for anything against the rules."

Mangle then handed Tearjerker a thin length of what looked like a strip of mesh connected to a charger.

"This is your new best friend," Mangle said with pride, "When those little pit spawn get out of line, you just take the electric strap to them for a few breems and they get real docile for you. Works every time."

Tearjerker looked down at the electric strap as if it were going to come to life and bite her! She was disgusted by what she was hearing!

"You mean to tell me, sir, that you use an electrical charge to strike a sparkling's thin underdeveloped armor?" Tearjerker asked in horror and disbelief.

" _Armor_?" Mangle gave a wicked smirk, "Sometimes I'll strike their exposed protoform if they're bad enough."

Mangle then laughed sadistically, and while Tearjerker was careful not to show any emotion to the Decepticon, inside she wanted to purge her fuel tanks and hide those sparklings from evil mechs like this one.

Tearjerker couldn't help but wonder what kind of system would allow such horrible creatures to be in charge of the care and education of innocent sparklings. She would not be surprised if one day the poor little things tried to rebel.

* * *

Meanwhile, it was the time of day when the sparklings refueled, and the seven Sigmas were sitting in the middle of the floor just like all the others drinking their energon. Terrabyte shared part of her ration with Honey Venom to keep the gold femme alive, and Phobia fed off Q-Boom; an act that still made Q-Boom a little nervous.

"Terrabyte," Turret called out to her in spark language, "Turret would be willing to share Turret's cube with Terrabyte so that Terrabyte might share with Honey Venom."

Terrabyte smiled at the little spider-con, but she shook her helm _no_. She didn't want his little body to collapse on him. The cassettes weren't given as much as they others despite being adults simply because their were symbiotes. The Sigma Sisters might have looked powerful, but the truth was it was hard for them to keep energon because most of them were misfits.

"Heads up guys, new caretaker," Q-Boom muttered as she looked at the large adult leaving the staff room.

"How can you tell she's a caretaker and not an adopter?" Phobia asked; still attached to Q-Boom's arm.

"She's got a strap," Q-Boom replied matter-of-factly.

Honey Venom noticed something about the new caretaker as well; something that made her scowl in frustration. There was a faded red mark on her arm where her Autobot sigil used to be. That oversized scrap pile was an Autobot!

"Lesson number one Phobia: always avoid the caretakers," Honey Venom instructed as she sipped along on Terrabyte's leftover cube, "The caretakers offer nothing but pain and humiliation. If you must speak to one, then never look them in the optic and always speak in low respectful tones. All challenges are met with injury and/or the electric strap. Usually both."

"Got it. No caretakers," Phobia repeated, and Honey Venom nodded, "Thank you for telling me. I don't know what I'd do without you girls. I'm glad we're a family."

"Family?" Q-Boom asked; unsure she heard that right, "You think we're a family?"

Phobia nodded and hummed an affirmative.

"Wow...I guess in a weird way, we are," Q-Boom realized, "Huh. Well then Phobia, I guess since you feed off me so much, that makes us biologically kin, huh?"

"It doesn't work that way, Q," Honey Venom interjected, "Physical relation comes from coding, not energon."

"You are such a limp chord," Q-Boom groused.

Honey Venom and Q-Boom continued to trade verbal barbs back and forth, but all Phobia and Terrabyte could focus on was the new caretaker. Phobia looked at her with a sense of curiosity, but she still felt the dread of the unknown. Caretakers had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember, and for as long as she could remember they had been mean to her. They didn't hit her like they did with the older sparklings, but Phobia always heard about what a horrible creation she was and how no one could ever love her. They were the adults, and they knew everything, so therefore she was convinced they had to be right about her.

Terrabyte was afraid too, but for much more poignant reasons. The new caretaker was an Autobot. Autobots were evil beings that killed Decepticons and tried to force them all to be the government's slaves again. She would still lay awake at night afraid to recharge because she knew she would dream of the two Autobots that killed her parents. She was just grateful she never saw the Autobots that destroyed the camp she lived in and killed her mother's other symbiote; Scramble. Her mother's three remaining symbiotes were all the family she had in the world. What if that huge black and grey Autobot caretaker tried to hurt them? She only hoped the other Sigma Sisters could protect them. She knew for a fact that she could not.

* * *

Tearjerker's first couple orns at the foundling home had been spent with Lashback and Mangle. They watched her carefully to see if she would try to run away from them and thus escape her master, but she never tried. Tearjerker knew that most of the world now belonged to the Decepticons, and the Autobots' numbers were dwindling down to a handful.

That was why she gave special attention to the Autobot sparklings in her care. She would walk up and talk to the Autobot orphans, play games with them, and even tell them stories if she found one wandering during the night.

They never allowed Tearjerker to pass out the energon. They feared a softsparked Autobot would give out the rations too generously and therefore there wouldn't be enough for everyone on the list. She knew how to ration, but she didn't argue the point. She didn't want to cause trouble, but rather was just grateful to be allowed to stay there at all. Anything was better than where she had been.

On this day she was assigned to be the outdoor monitor to ensure that the orphans stayed on the grounds and avoided the areas that were known to have land mines. Tearjerker noticed most of the sparklings didn't play too enthusiastically. They were all low on energy due to the lack of energon and the poor condition of the recharge berths. They were old before their time.

Tearjerker's job before the war had been as a postmortem smelter, so she was used to seeing sadness and death even before all pit broke loose. During the war she had endured the loss of her sparkmate at the hands of Dirge, and then becoming Dirge's slave for more vorns than she cared to acknowledge. She was used to sorrow, but to see these sparklings in such a pitiful state made her spark hurt. She just wanted them to be happy and full of life as sparklings should be.

These thoughts and more swirled through her processor as she made her way to the shaded side of the building. It was there that she noticed four little sparkling femmes, and she noticed two things about them. One, she had only seen two of these little femmelings in the energon line. The seekerling and the carrier were familiar, but she had never seen the gold femme or the little car-former before. Speaking of the car-former, she noticed something else...

 _Phobia? Can it be?_ Tearjerker thought, yet she feared to hope. _Has my daughter really survived all this time?_

Tearjerker had been ordered by Dirge to kill the sparkling once it had been sparked and he saw it was an energon leech. He was very superstitious and believed the sparkling would kill them if it got the chance. Tearjerker instead secretly paid a street merchant to take the newspark to a foundling home, and could only hope her child had survived the wrath of ignorant mechs.

Seeing the display of Phobia feeding off of the seekerling and never having seen Phobia at the foundling home before now, Tearjerker realized what was going on. The caretakers were trying to starve Phobia so she would be out of their lives quicker, but the other sparklings were helping her survive by risking their own life's fuel to feed her! Their own rations were too low to support another sparkling, and that little seeker would not survive if she had to keep doing this for Phobia.

Tearjerker knew exactly what she had to do. She only hoped the other caretakers didn't see her do it.

Tearjerker approached the sparklings, and she felt a pang of sadness when she saw the looks they gave her; ranging from wary to fearful.

"Yeah, that's right! She's a leech! You got a problem with that, _Autobot_?" The seekerling challenged despite being less than a fifth of Tearjerker's size.

Tearjerker bent down to get closer to the sparklings, and they tried in vain to back up further against the wall. She gently pried the suckers off the seekerling's arm, and Phobia started crying loudly!

" _No_!" The gold sparkling cried out, "Don't kill her! I'll kill you if you kill her!"

Tearjerker couldn't help but be touched by the way they panicked over Phobia. Phobia had found friends that were willing to fight for her. Her daughter had found someone in her life that cared about her.

The shuttle femme nestled Phobia carefully in the crook of her arm, and the sparkling looked up at her with fear and uncertainty shining in her little red optics. Tearjerker carefully took the femmeling's servo and placed it over her chassis. The sparkling didn't resist, but she also didn't seem to know what was expected of her.

"Go on little one. Eat," Tearjerker gently encouraged the sparkling.

Phobia's face went from hesitancy to sheer amazement. An adult was feeding her? On purpose? It didn't seem real. Still, the caretaker seemed so nice and warm, and her energon was so tempting. Gingerly, Phobia attached herself to Tearjerker and began to feed. The caretaker stroked the sparkling's helm gently and hummed softly to her. It was the best feeling in the world, and Phobia wished she could just die like this. She was sure she would never get a moment like this ever again.

After a couple breems Phobia fell into recharge in Tearjerker's arms. Tearjerker had been so focused on the little leech that she had forgotten about the other three sparklings. Well, she did, until…

"TeaRJERkeR!" The white carrier femmeling called up to her, "PicK Me up, ToO!"

Tearjerker was surprised by this. From what she had seen this sparkling was very shy and tended to avoid Autobots. Tearjerker also noted the look of surprise on the gold femme's face plate. Apparently this was unusual behavior to them as well. Still, she wanted to earn the trust of the sparklings, so she picked up the little sparkling and held her in her other arm.

Not wanting to be left out, the seekerling flew up to Tearjerker's helm and sat there like a winged hat. Tearjerker had a chuckle when she thought about what she must look like with a sparkling in each arm and one on her head. Only the gold sparkling remained where she was. Tearjerker looked at the gold femme, and could see that the little thing was scrutinizing her in a manner that appeared both intelligent and unnerving. It was like this femmeling was gazing into her spark and searching out her intentions. Well, she knew she had nothing to hide, especially not from a sparkling. Instead of worrying about it, Tearjerker decided to just enjoy her own sparkling and the other sparklings in her care.

* * *

The orns passed with relative calm. Tearjerker spent a lot of her free time with the Sigma Sisters, and that seemed to be good for everyone. It was good for Tearjerker because she got to know her daughter. It was good for the Sigmas because they got an adult role model in their life that didn't want to hurt them. It was also good for the general population because the Sigma Sisters were less destructive toward the other sparklings now that they had something else to do.

Ever since Tearjerker began feeding Phobia from her ration she noticed that the seekerling, who she learned was named Quantum Boom, became a lot more energetic. The little jet-former actually started flying around the compound like the other little seekers, and she wanted to play games more often as well.

Tearjerker also found it endearing that Terrabyte wanted to be with her and Phobia whenever she got the chance. The little carrier was still afraid of Autobots, but she learned to put her trust in the well-meaning caretaker. After learning that an Autobot had nearly strangled Terrabyte to death after killing her parents, Tearjerker understood why the poor sparkling had trust issues.

Tearjerker did her best to be there not only for the Sigmas, but for every sparkling under her care. She knew they were in a war zone, and that life was hard for the young Cybertronians, so she did whatever she could to comfort them.

The shuttle femme also learned more about her fellow caretakers. She learned that Lashback had opened the foundling home shortly after the war broke out to give the orphans a place to go, but as the vorns dragged on she became bitter and burned out by the constant needs of the sparklings. Mangle was actually Lashback's son, and he only agreed to volunteer with the foundling home so he wouldn't have to face duty on the front lines of Megatron's army. The Decepticon forces spared the place from being bombed because of the large bribes Mangle offered Altihex's occupation commander; Blitzwing.

Tearjerker didn't have any friends among the caretakers since they viewed her as less than worthless due to her faction. She did, however, find a surprising source of adult conversation in the form of Honey Venom. Tearjerker had learned shortly after meeting the Sigma Sisters that Honey Venom was likely 8 vorns old, which meant she had matured mentally and also outgrown her sparkling body. She desperately needed an upgrade or she would die, but the foundling home couldn't afford to upgrade sparklings, so she would likely suffocate in her outmoded shell.

It was times like this when Tearjerker felt the most helpless. She liked Honey Venom, and wanted so badly to save her, but she couldn't. Tearjerker wasn't paid due to her status as a slave. She was lucky to be granted shelter and energon from these mechs. She had nothing, and therefore had no way to get Honey Venom what she needed to survive. Honey Venom wasn't even the only one there that needed an upgrade. There was also Obsidian, Blade Shadow, Trickle, and Heavyweight. They all needed upgrades or they would perish, but Tearjerker could do nothing about it.

On this particular orn Q-Boom was drawing on the driveway outside while Terrabyte and her symbiotes talked, Honey Venom read, and Phobia held two pieces of scrap and pretended they were dolls. Tearjerker kept an optic on them, but stayed close to Trickle since she was having severe spark pains at the moment.

It was then that Tearjerker saw two Decepticon soldiers coming down the sidewalk and then turning into the foundling home. They both looked like heavy tank-formers, one red and yellow and the other black and yellow, and their optics swept over the sparklings in a scrutinizing way.

 _Are they adopters?_ Tearjerker though. _That seems unlikely. Perhaps they are recruiters. If so, then the older sparklings might get their upgrades after all._

Then she saw them make a right turn and head straight to the dark corner where the Sigma Sisters were playing. She stepped close enough to listen and intervene if necessary, but not so close as to seem threatening just in case they were legitimately looking to adopt one of the sparklings.

"Look at this one, Clobber," The black and yellow tank said as he pointed to Q-Boom, "Got a good set of wings on her. Those head blades look pretty exotic. Think they come coded?"

"Don't know, Repulsor," The red and yellow tank replied to his companion, "I think the gold one looks fancy. Those digits are long, dainty, and flexible. Scans say she's ready, too. Past ready."

"Um, excuse me?" Honey Venom said abruptly, "We can _hear_ _you_. Please don't speak about us as if we aren't here. Now, state your business or move on."

"Ah, a feisty one, huh?" The one called Repulsor drawled, "Well young femme, we're a couple of enterprising 'Cons looking to find needy femmes and give them a better life away from this slag hole."

"Really?" Phobia asked hopefully as she stared up at the imposing mechs.

"Heh, this one gets it," Clobber said as he pointed to Phobia, "Look at the build on that chassis, the prominence of the hip joints. This one is gonna be real hot when she upgrades."

"Not that it's necessary," Repulsor chuckled, "I know some clients that would take her as-is."

Honey Venom's optics went wide as she realized what these mechs were doing there and why they were looking them over. They were slavers. They were looking for sparklings to upgrade into pleasure bots because buying a sparkling was cheaper than buying an intact Autobot femme. Honey Venom felt like she was going to purge her fuel tanks; probably on their pedes considering the mood they put her in.

"So little ladies, what are your names?" Clobber asked the femmelings as he leered at Phobia.

"My name is Phobia," Phobia said with a smile; oblivious to the danger they were in, "That's Terrabyte, Q-Boom, and Honey Venom."

"Honey Venom," Repulsor said her name slowly, as if tasting it, "A name fit for a tower femme. Well, we can get you young femmes all sorts of fine things. Energon, armor polish, even weld-on jewels. You like pretty things, don't you ladies?"

Phobia nodded, and Honey Venom just wanted to slap her for being so naive.

"Gentlemechs," Tearjerker announced herself as she was suddenly right behind them, "It is time for the foundling home to lock its doors for the orn. You need to leave now. I apologize for the inconvenience."

Of course Tearjerker wasn't sorry for kicking them out, but she didn't want them to think it was anything suspicious. After all, an Autobot slave mouthing off to a Decepticon warrior could only end with her being offlined in a violent way.

The two soldiers scowled at her. They were obviously unhappy with her attitude, and they weren't about to back down to an Autobot.

"We will speak to your manager," Repulsor demanded, "We wish to purchase these 4 femmes immediately."

"Oh, and do you think we'll get a discount on the cassettes?" Clobber had the nerve to ask.

"Sir, I don't think now is the time to-"

Before Tearjerker could finish her sentence the tanks had pushed her aside and were lumbering toward the door and into the staff room to speak to Mangle about buying the sparklings for their _enterprise_.

Tearjerker couldn't allow them to do this! She wasn't about to let her daughter and the sparklings she thought of as her own children be sold into slavery! She knew better than most the shame and subjugation associated with such a life, and she wasn't about to let that happen to her sparklings! Tearjerker stormed off after them and barged into the staff room behind them to speak to Mangle on the sparklings' behalf.

"What was that about?" Q-Boom asked after they left.

"Follow them," Honey Venom ordered sharply, and the Sigmas took off after them.

As they made their way inside, Honey Venom waited for the others, and then locked the outside door behind them.

"Why did you do that?" Q-Boom asked caustically.

"Shh!" Honey Venom hissed, and then over the comm said /Those mechs are going to turn us into pleasure slaves./

/ _No_!/ Phobia shouted over the comm, /Pleasure slaves are bad! The caretakers said my mommy was a pleasure bot and she was bad, and that's why she sparked an energon leech and then abandoned me! I don't want to be any more bad than I already am! What do we _do_!?/

/We do what we're best at,/ Honey Venom said gravely, /We fight back. Terrabyte, scan the building to make sure there are no other sparklings in here. Q, find a load bearing beam and start the countdown. We will not be taken alive./

* * *

Tearjerker couldn't believe what she was hearing! In what alternate reality did the Decepticons live in to think that selling sparklings as pleasure toys was acceptable? Mangle knew what they wanted, and yet was perfectly willing to let those monsters have the sparklings!

"Calm down, Tearjerker," Mangle said gruffly as she tried to plead her case, "You know this place is barely able to take care of what we've got. If these gentlemechs take those little femmes with them then the femmes will have enough energon to survive, upgrades for the older ones, and a steady job to keep them from becoming cannon fodder. I'll admit, I wanted the gold one to die first so we could sell her for parts, but this transaction beats her continuing to drain our resources."

" _Resources_!?" Tearjerker shouted in an uncharacteristically loud voice, "You give her _nothing_! You don't even allot her an energon ration! Sir, you are talking about selling these sparklings to a place that will see to it they are raped every day! They are _sparklings_! If Terrabyte or Phobia were upgraded now they would be unable to handle the new bodies and would die! That's actually the _kinder_ scenario in this situation! Please Mangle, I'm begging you, don't do this to them. They don't deserve this. They are Decepticon sparklings! They are of the same faction as you! Does that, if nothing else, mean anything to you?"

"Get out, Autobot," Mangle said in clipped tones, "You are not wanted. These soldiers are in the market for femmelings, and we will provide them. It is the only way to keep our foundling home from closing and the sparklings from starving. We must think of everyone, Tearjerker. After all, we have over 200 orphans here. What are the lives of 4 femmes compared to that?"

Tearjerker was about to argue the point, but she never got the chance. Suddenly the world around them exploded in a fiery ball of shrapnel and chaos! A bomb had clearly gone off and hit the foundling home!

"Autobot attack!" Clobber shouted as he felt around in search of an escape.

Mangle was injured, and Repulsor had been killed in the blast since he was closest to the door. Tearjerker's thick armor had mostly protected her, but she was leaking energon from a wound in the joint connecting her hip to her right leg. Her first concern was for the sparklings. Did the bomb affect the ones outside? How many had been caught in the crossfire? Were any dead? Were any alive? Were any inside when the bomb hit them?

She burst through the heat-battered door and ran into the flames. She looked around. She saw Q-Boom, and unsurprisingly she survived. Q-Boom's spark bomb made her impervious to impact damage, so at least that was one blessing. She ran to the little seeker to try to lead her outside.

"Tearjerker!" Q-Boom called out over the roar of flames, "The other Sigmas are still in here! Help me look for them!"

Just then Tearjerker heard the creaking of the roof, and realized the whole thing was going to come down on them any astro second! She ran around in search of the other sparklings, and before long she found Honey Venom and Terrabyte huddled together. She grabbed them both and shoved them into her passenger compartment, and then searched for Phobia and Q-Boom.

"Hey Tearjerker! I found Pheebs!" Q-Boom shouted from across the room near the barracks.

Tearjerker ran to them and saw Phobia was unconscious and leaking energon from a helm wound. She grabbed the car-former sparkling and shoved her into the compartment before transforming all around them into her large shuttle alt mode. Q-Boom turned into a small jet and took off after Tearjerker. The other orphans watched as the two vehicles took off into the night sky.

As they flew away Tearjerker realized she had nowhere to go, and that she and the sparklings were in danger so long as they were on Cybertron. Once she convinced Q-Boom to climb inside her alt mode, Tearjerker took off into the depths of space. The chances of surviving were slim since they would need energon, but at least they would have a better chance on their own than with the Decepticons.

* * *

A few joors later when they were well on their way through the stars Phobia woke up. Honey Venom used one of Tearjerker's welders to seal up the wound so Phobia wouldn't lose more energon than necessary, and Q-Boom let Phobia feed off her so she wouldn't miss what she had already lost. Tearjerker didn't bother to tell them about her own injuries. She would repair herself when they landed.

"So...What now?" Q-Boom asked when no one said anything for a few breems.

"Now we move on," Tearjerker told them, "Don't worry girls. I am always going to be there for you. We're going to be okay."

They didn't know then just how long it would take to find a planet, or how bad Tearjerker's injuries really were. They never imagined the vorns that would pass by without them, or that their only saving grace would be Autobots. At that time all they knew was that they were free, but that their freedom likely wouldn't last long. All they had to hold onto was that moment among the stars.

* * *

Bumblebee heard a knock on his door. It was morning. He realized he overslept. It wasn't that surprising. Terrabyte had stayed up late because she was afraid to go to recharge, and he had to stay up with her. He went to the door and saw Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were waiting for him, or more specifically they were waiting for him to give them Terrabyte.

"So, how did it go?" Sunstreaker asked; trying to sound nonchalant but just sounding aloof.

"Pretty good, actually," Bumblebee said with a smile, "Terrabyte is such a good little femme. She doesn't bother anyone. I just hope I wasn't too boring for her."

"Trust me, you weren't," Sunstreaker said wryly, "That sparkling could watch paint dry and still be content."

Sideswipe jostled Terrabyte awake, and she looked at him in shock before she realized where she was and who she was with.

"Did you have fun with your Uncle Bumblebee?" Sideswipe asked as he rubbed her helm playfully, "You didn't pull any pranks on him while we were gone, did you?"

"I'm SoRry, but nO," Terrabyte replied matter-of-factly.

"Aw, shoot!" Sideswipe said in mock-disappointment, "Well, don't worry. Someday you'll be one of the best pranksters in the universe, just like me and your old dad."

"Who are you calling old, you cherry headache?" Sunstreaker snapped at Sideswipe.

"I love you too, Sunshine," Sideswipe quipped as he walked past Sunstreaker and flicked him on the nose cone.

Sunstreaker growled at Sideswipe, but knew he didn't have time to chase him down. He had to get Terrabyte to her math class before she was late. He held out his servo, and she took it with her own smaller one. They walked out together, and Bumblebee watched them go with a smile.

It was always so nice to see sparklings get a loving family. He knew he was the luckiest mechling in the world the day Ironhide and Chromia had adopted him. He didn't remember much about his life in the orphanage, and sadly he didn't remember what his spark-parents looked like anymore. Still, he did remember the misery and the hopelessness from so many of those sparklings. He wondered if any of them were still alive.

Yes, seeing sparklings like Q-Boom, Terrabyte, and Phobia get loving families and adapt to being Autobots was just what his spark needed. It was just a shame that Honey Venom didn't adapt as well as they did and didn't treat Skyfire with respect. He didn't know why, but there was just something he really didn't like about that femme.

 **The End**


End file.
